Love is an Open Book
by NevaehNikol
Summary: Alfred is a young man who has an extreme passion for history. One day he finds a book about a pirate from the late 1800's named Arthur Kirkland. Deciding to learn about this man, he finds how tragic death was. Feeling almost heartbroken, he wishes he could go back and fix Arthur's fatal mistake. The mistake that caused his end. Well, what if he could go back in time to warn him?
1. Finding Grace

** Okay! This is a gift for my best friend! It's our anniversary tomorrow and I know I had to get some of this uploaded before she can find it, haha.**  
**To Dearest,**  
** Happy Anniversary! I know this isn't a lot, but I'm obviously going to keep writing it until it's finished. I'm so happy we're friends and I hope we can continue being friends until death do us part, hehe. I hope you enjoy this, because you've been hella excited for it. Once again happy anniversary and I love you! 3**

This story will be multi-chaptered because wow this would be a lot to put into one single story. They are human and human names are used. Thank you and enjoy :)

Your pile of books is almost frighteningly tall now. But, that's okay. The pile of books is like a barrier between you and other people who wouldn't understand. You flip another page of your book, smiling because you're so close to finishing up this era.

Everything about the early eighteen-hundreds in the barren villages of late feudal north-eastern China is absolutely fascinating, nothing could possibly beat it in terms of culture functions and decline of absolute imperial ranks. Your smile widens as you close the book, feeling over the cover with your fingers.

That was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

You stand, sighing contently as you grab several books to put back on the shelf. There's still some left on the table, but you'll grab them when you come back. You shove books back into place as you walk through shelves and shelves of books.  
"Another day, another era," You mutter under your breath in an amused tone. As you push the last book back into its slot another one falls out on the other side.  
"Oh, sorry..." You apologize to the book out of habit. Walking around to the other side of the bookshelf you see the book that dropped. "My, my you look pretty fragile. I hope you know I didn't do that on purpose." You say to the book quietly as you pick it up. The book itself looks rather dingy and old. Though, most of the books you read are dingy and old so it's actually quite refreshing to see. The book seems to be made of extremely old leather and cloth and it's every shade of brown possibly imaginable.  
It's beautiful.  
You smile widely as you nearly sprint back to your designated library table for the night. How exciting! It's rare you'd find a book quite like this in a public library. You wonder briefly what part of Chinese history it's a part of, considering you found it in the section for those books, though it really doesn't matter because all history is absolutely fascinating.  
"Let's see what type of marvelous artifacts of history you contain," Your heart is electric, like it always is when opening a book. You slowly open the book, the pages are beautifully yellow, and you smile even wider.

"Well, you aren't Chinese history at all. Hell, you aren't even Eastern." You chuckle quietly as you read over the title. "You're English. How funny, why are you over here then?" You ask, amused, running your fingers over the title page.

"Captain Arthur Kirkland: Pirate Conquest and Biography."

You nod appreciatively, flipping over the page to see a single line of dedication.

"To the one who's eyes read these words; you are about to embark on a journey to learn of the the greatest man to ever live in the history of Her Majesties great land."

Smiling a bit wider you turn the page again. "Greatest man in the history of England, huh?" Well I'm intrigued." On the next page is nothing, absolutely blank. "Hm, well this must be like a buffer for the greatness that is about to be this book." You laugh at your own humor.  
"Erm...excuse me, Alfred?" A small voice scares the shit out of you.  
"Ah!" You yell out, slamming the book shut. "God, you scared me, Allison." You're kinda breathless, but of course friendly. "Whatcha need?"  
She smiles coyly at you. "Well, the library is closing and..." Allison trails off, being as shy as usual when you first start your conversations.  
"Already?" You ask incredulously. "Wow, I guess time flies when you're flying through time," She giggles a bit at your incredibly lame pun. "Well, I'll just put the rest of these back and I'll be on my way and- oh wait! I also need to check a few things out, is that alright?"

"Well of course you can Alfred, I am a librarian after all," She smiled. "So what gems have you found this time? Looks like you brought one from home today," Allison nodded her head toward the book in your hand. "I don't think I've ever seen a book that old in my life." She laughed.

"Well, uh, actually I found this book. It was right over the-"  
"You found that? Like on the streets?" She laughed again, cutting you off. "I wish we held older books like this in our library, just for you Alfred. I have a feeling that if we held books like that here, you'd spend the night."  
You blink a few times in silence. "You don't carry books like this?" Confusion was definitely in your voice. Then how could you have possibly found this book among the shelves?  
"If we carried books that old, I'm sure you would have sniffed them out a long time ago. Or, hey, maybe even I would've taken a look at something that old." She said looking around the shelves that surrounded the both of you.

"So...you're saying that there's no possible way for this book," You point to the book in your hand. "To be in this library? Like no possible way for someone to check it out? So it'd have to be brought from home?" Your questions seem to confuse the other more and more.

"Alfred. I've restocked these shelves hundreds and hundreds of times. There's no way you'd find a book like that here. I mean...you could look, but you'd be severely disappointed." She obviously thought you meant other books older books like this.

"Oh, alright then." You say, accepting that this was just a random book.

"How cute, sorry to disappoint you," She pinched your cheek a bit. "Well, I'll be locking up in about fifteen minutes. Please clean up this mess and bring the books you would like to take up to the front." Allison chimed. "Oh- and don't forget your book as well." The librarian stated as if an afterthought, walking away by then.  
"O-okay then." You nodded silently as she disappeared behind shelves. Feeling you shouldn't leave this mess, you set down your book and start putting the rest away. You leave a few because you're still in the middle of reading them.  
When you're done reshelving the books, there's five left. Two on the imperialism in Japan's early seventeen-hundreds, one on the decline of social hierarchies in India, another on Spanish influences in the Revolutionary War, and lastly the book on Arthur Kirkland. You aren't actually going to take it for the simple fact that it's not actually your book, but the more you look at the book, the more tempted you become.  
As you make your way back up to the main check-out desk, you pass a few books with peculiar author names. You stop and set the books you have in your hands on a nearby table, going back to read the binds of the books you passed.  
"Kirkland." You read aloud. "Arthur Kirkland?" Your voices rises into a confused question as you realize the books are by a man named Arthur Kirkland. You pull out one of the six volumes, looking at the front cover.

"Diaries and Journals of Arthur Kirkland." You read. "Huh, so he has journals?" Thinking on it for a minute you realizing what an idiotic question that was. "Well, of course. It's not uncommon for a pirate to have journals, especially in that particular time period." You correct yourself, looking at the rest of the books on the shelf. You figure it wouldn't hurt to read them.

You grab all of them.

Grabbing your other books from the table, you quickly make your way to the check-out desk.  
Allison sees you coming and shakes her head a bit. "Alfred, it's been like twenty minutes, you're lucky I'm nice enough to stay a bit longer for you." She smiles despite her words. "So, whatcha' got this time?" The brunette starts picking up the books, scanning them.

"Well, I picked up just a few odds and ends that I think I need to read over again. A bit about Japan, Spain, India, and...Arthur Kirkland." She gave you a confused look.

"Arthur Kirkland? Hmm, I've never heard you mention him before?"

"Uh, he's an English pirate from the late eighteen-hundreds. According to that," You jerk your chin towards the mysterious brown book on the desk in front of you. "He's the greatest pirate in England's history."

She looks impressed as she scans the last of Arthur's journals. "Ooh, greatest pirate in the history of England, huh? He sounds like one hell of a guy." Allison laughs, scooting your checked out books to you. "Alright Alfred, we're all set here." She sets the mysterious brown book on top of the others. "And don't forget that."

"Oh, uhh," Your heart is beating extremely fast as you pick up the brown book. "Well," You don't want to give it back. "This book," Maybe one day wouldn't hurt, you'll bring it back tomorrow. "How could I forget it?" You pick up the rest of the stack. "Alright Allison, see you tomorrow."

"Bye Alfred, see you tomorrow" She says as you walk out the door.

You step outside. It's nighttime of course, but that's alright. Walking to your car you set the books on the roof, unlocking the door. "Crap," You mumble to yourself as you place the books in the passenger seat. "Why did I do that?" You slam the door, walking around to the other side and getting inside the car. Glancing at the book, you turn the car on. "I literally just stole someone's book," You continue to look at the book, becoming less and less upset about and smiling.

"Tomorrow. I'll return it tomorrow."


	2. Finding Treasure

**Okay! I know you are all wondering why I wrote this in 2nd person. I just think we need to see everything exactly the way Alfred sees it in this fic :) Enjoy! 3**

One old brown book, six journals, two weeks, and over thirty cups of coffee later the world doesn't make sense to you. You flip back through pages in the third journal trying to remember if he overthrew five other ships before or after he fought off a pack of wolves for his crew. It was hard to keep track of all the wonderful and awful things this man accomplishes.

You suddenly remember that none of the events you're looking for happen in journal three, but actually journal four. In journal three he burns down innocent villages for the sake of 'fun' and 'loyalty'.

What a man.

You gently set down the journal and reach for your coffee. You have no clue how you'd survive college, or really anything, without this stuff. Speaking of college, you decide you should probably do some of the assignments you were given today. You stand up to go get your laptop.

"Research papers that aren't about history are the bane of my existence." You frown setting the mug down to grab your laptop. "Stupid professors and their stupid assignments, that are stupidly due tomorrow." Mumbling childishly and pouting a bit you sit on your bed and open your laptop. An exasperated noise escapes your lips. "I don't wanna," You whine, opening up google chrome. "No no no no no," Continuing your ministrations you start to type in the search box.

'Arthur Kirkland pirate in the late 1800's'

"Ah, that's better," You chuckle suddenly pleased at your procrastination.

You've read all six journals and you're almost finished with your mysterious brown book. But journal six ended a bit too suddenly for your liking and the last entry didn't make any sense, so you figure google will have all the answers you need.

Per usual.

Pressing enter you look a bit puzzled when only about ten results come up. Weird. SHouldn't there be like thousands of results? But you're actually grateful it found anything at all. "Oh, google, how I love you," You coo as you click the first link. "Arthur Kirkland Journal Examination." You read the title of the website aloud. "Surprisingly this is exactly what I was looking for. Now..." You click on the link that says 'Journal Six'.

When you click the link it gives you a different 'deeper' explanation for each of the entries in the order they came in.

You roll your eyes at the explanation for the first entry. "Of course, it's obvious he was feeling envious of Captain Norge. If you read the thing at all that wouldn't have even needed explanation," You complain as you scroll all the way down to the last entry. "Okay, entry sixty-five." You skip to the last part, the part you didn't understand.

_'...Alas, it seems my departure has been delayed. Quite the stir that's been brought up from the new mate on ship. He's reckless and strange. But he serves well ,so he's welcome on my ship. Lady Minera seems to have taken a liking to him along with the rest of the crew. Very friendly, that boy. What was his name again? Ah, yes, Feliks. Troublesome, but friendly._

_Well, now I must confess a truth I have been hiding, for now I fear I may not live to tell. Lady Minera is the only soul to know of this._

_I have made a mistake._

_My crew is now in danger because of something I have done. I'm unsure of how to tell them. I, as their Captain, should be more truthful with my men, but I cannot._

_I will tell them to leave and force them to board Minera's ship . My men will live. I will be the only one to pay for such a costly mistake.'_

_They are brave. They are the most loyal bastards to ever walk this planet, they'd follow me to the ends of time. But now I must go upon this adventure on my own. They will not be involved._

_I will write once more before I die. Only once will I be able to write, but I will make the most of it because it is all that I will have left._

_To anyone who reads this journal. I am Arthur Kirkland. I am the world's greatest pirate, but soon I will be unknown to all."_

"Yup. That's definitely the last entry for book six..." You mumble sadly, knowing he probably died some time after he wrote that. "Okay, let's see what they say about this." You scroll down to look at the examination, but there's only a few lines.

_"We do not know what he means by mistake, or anything about what he has done. Arthur never got to write the very last entry as he said he would in the fourth sentence to the last, though if he did write it, it may just be a lost piece of paper in the world. We're not sure what he meant by mostly anything in this last entry and we are working very hard to try and understand the little knowledge we have of this great man."_

You stare at the screen a bit aggravated now. How had the analyzed every other entry in his journals, but not this one.

It's not fair.

You close the laptop and move to grab the brown book you stole, moving your hand right passed your chemical reactions assignment. Opening the book to where you left off, you read aloud.

"_No one knows how or where Arthur died. No one even knows the events that lead to his death. It is rumored among the older people who live by the ports that Lady Minera betrayed him to take his ship and sail away with his crew_," You roll your eyes. "She wouldn't do that. She and Arthur have sailed together several times, I'm pretty sure that means trust and friendship in pirate terms. Plus, they could've taken any ship they wanted in the entire sea and they actually have before, why would she even need his ship anyway? She has her own." You frown at the distasteful rumors that are apparently spread about Miss Minera. She was a trusted friend of Arthur, so if he trusted why shouldn't everyone else?

Arthur is an amazing judge of character you've learned.

"_Though, those who know of Arthur also know of Feliks, a man we only hear Arthur praise quite a bit in his last entry. Many think that Feliks was a spy of sorts and killed off Arthur on his own ship._" Alfred stopped reading, thinking a bit. "Hm, that would kinda make sense, but then again not really. Arthur said he had made a terrible mistake and that no one else knew. So how would Feliks fit into any of that?"

You really want to know. You want nothing more than to know exactly how Arthur died. You want to know exactly what he was like outside his journals and you want to know what his childhood was like and if he had any sibling or even what color his hair was! You just want to know everything about him. From the way he looks to that way he sounds, eats, sleeps, and even breathes. You don't know why you would need to know all of this and it's kinda weird for you to want to know about him this bad.

But, maybe it's just the fact that there's no information on him that makes you want to know even more. Usually you can learn all about an individual in less than an hour, but with Arthur you've had to read six volumes of his personal journals and a strange book, that you're now pretty sure no one has ever touched, before you could learn almost anything about him.

So far the only personal things you know about him is he had a dog once, you don't know when but he had one. You also know his crew is his life and he is their life, you don't know how long they've all been together but they are like a family to each other. And lastly you know how much he likes Feliks.

In his journals he didn't talk about him until the last entry, but in your brown book there's information about Feliks. Feliks Richward is his name and you can find information on him a lot easier than you can find anything about Arthur. Apparently he joined a pirate crew when he was twenty, even though he was a scholar before. No one knows why he joined a pirate crew and gave up his schooling, that part is skipped and written off as unknown in all the articles you've read.

But, all you know is that your head hurts from all this thinking. Deciding to maybe try and find a few more things about Arthur, you pick up the brown book by the front cover. You then panic because you suddenly remember exactly how old and fragile this book actually is and you quickly try to use both hands to grab it, but before you do that something falls out of the book.

You sit there for a moment.

Oh God.

Did you accidentally rip a piece of a page out? You didn't hear a rip or anything...

You carefully set the book on your bed, feeling more moronic than the time you couldn't remember the year World War II started. "Please, please, please don't be a page. I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." You chant repetitively, reaching for the paper that fell out.

As you pick it up you close your eyes. You just hope its ripped from a page you have already read so you can at least finish the book in peace. You open your eyes quickly assessing the damage and reading over the piece you picked up.

It's black on the side you're looking at, though from the way the edges look it is definitely ripped from a page.

Flipping over the piece of paper you read over it silently.

And suddenly you feel like your heart has stopped and your breath hitches as you stare at this paper. You finally see that this book is much more value than you originally thought.

On that piece of paper is lost entry, sixty-six.


End file.
